24 customer testimonial interview question examples

These are some proven interview questions to use for your customer testimonial and case study interviews. This approach will help solicit quotes, insights, and input for your messaging framework. I typically set aside about 45 minutes for these, and use Zoom to record the conversation, so I can focus on the interview and conversation instead of taking notes.

If you're not sure how to ask your customers for a testimonial, don't be afraid. You can follow the templates here so you can feel confident when reaching out and asking for their time. 

Introduction of the customer interview

1. Thank the client for making the time, and verify how much time the client has for the interview.
2. Ask if this interview can be recorded so you can focus on the conversation.
3. Confirm that the materials will only be used publicly after approval by the client.
4. Note that some questions may feel repetitive. This is by design to get to the “gems”.

Customer testimonial questionnaire

1. Start with some background – What makes the customer’s business unique?
2. How is the company doing? Yearly growth? Number of clients?
3. Who are your (the customer’s) clients?
4. How long have you been working with <our solution/company>?
5. What services does our company provide to you?
6. How were you doing this work before using us?
7. What problems were you trying to solve by engaging us?
8. What other options did you explore? Who else did you consider?
9. Why did you choose us?
10. How did you find us? Did you search for specific words in Google?
11. Who have you worked with at our company?
12. What is it like working with us so far?
13. Describe our team’s/our products' weekly work for you.
14. How do you feel about the quality of the work that was performed?
15. Have there been challenges along the way? How did we resolve them?
16. What are the benefits you have realized from using our Solution/Service? (ideally something quantifiable). These could include:
    1. Time saved
    2. Reduced costs
    3. Increased revenue
    4. Faster throughput
    5. More profitable clients
    6. More enjoyable work
17. Has our offering helped your team's productivity or morale?
18. Do you have a story that illustrates the value of our offering?
19. What other benefits do you expect to see in the future?
20. What would you say to someone else who is considering our service?
21. Bottom line, what has our solution done for you?
22. Is there anything that you would consider us the “best” or “only” at?
23. What does that mean to you personally?
24. What else would you like to share with us, or is there something else we can help you with?

What to do next with the customer interview content?

A great customer testimonial interview will provide you with incredibly valuable and useful content. From creating a publishable testimonial to simply providing you with a new bank of customer quotes, they'll be your number one source for social proof.

After a round of customer interviews, you may want to consider updating your messaging guide to reflect the thoughts these customers have shared with you. Don't be afraid to use the exact wording your customers use! Speaking in the same way as your customers and using their words is a great way to speak more impactfully to your audience.

Here are a few essential things you should be doing with your customer testimonial interview content:

1. Consider having the recording transcribed. You can use your marketing bot or a service like Temi.
2. Capture and synthesize specific customer experiences, feedback, and insights for internal use.
3. Write a customer testimonial or case study for publication. Here are some examples and how to publish them.
4. Collect key quotes and input for your messaging framework in a separate spreadsheet with the source. Try to organize these quotes by the speaker's buyer persona and the specific value proposition they reflect. This will make it easy for people later searching for quotes specific to these personas and claims to find customer proof supporting them.
5. Use the interview to ideate on content blog topics that your customers would find valuable. What questions or concerns did they have that you could write content specific to?
6. Create a customer case study (you can get started using the template below).

Download our free case study template

Turn the answers to these customer interview questions into a formal written case study using our framework.

Finally, here are a few more great best practices for getting the most out of your customer voices.